Sri Lankan garments have higher demand than ever in the UK

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

In a move to better understand the Sri Lankan economy and business in the country, British High Commissioner John Rankin made his first visit to two garment factories, the operations of UK-based companies Quantum Clothing and Coats Thread in Horana yesterday.

“This is my first visit to a garment factory in Sri Lanka. I think Sri Lankan products continue to be in high demand in the clothing sector in the United Kingdom, especially with higher end quality products for which it is renowned. I have been impressed by what I have seen here in terms of the quality and the production and labour conditions are great here and along with that the connection between the UK and Sri Lanka continues to get stronger,” stated the High Commissioner.

The visit to first Quantum Clothing, Sri Lanka, a company that exclusively exports products to Marks and Spencer and then Coats Lanka provided him with an insight into customer-supplier cooperation between the two companies and how UK companies in Sri Lanka work together.

He added that the visit would assist them in understanding how the garment sector and its exports to the UK, which is a key customer, operate which in turn will support the maintenance and increase of foreign direct investment from the UK to Sri Lanka, which he stated holds a lot of opportunity for UK companies.

In 2010, the UK was the second largest in terms of foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka and in 2009, Sri Lankan exports to UK were just over $1 billion, with the garment sector being a large part of that so it is a very big part of investment between the two countries.

“We have a lot of interest in Sri Lanka from UK companies, there are an increasing number of companies from the UK coming to us at the High Commission about investments here and we are seeing a substantial increase in bilateral trade between the two countries,” affirmed the Head of UK Trade and Investment at the British High Commission Janet Ford.

As the largest manufacturer of thread in the world, Coats Lanka has had a long presence in the country, driving innovation and best practices within their operations here. Supporting the fashion and craft industry in Sri Lanka, Coats Lanka has also signed a deal to work with the Sri Lanka Design Festival in the coming year.

Quantum Clothing, which initially commenced operations in Sri Lanka as a part of Coats Lanka currently employs a workforce of 1,800 people and produces an output of 300,000 items per week. The company works closely with Coats Lanka who provides them with supplies for their clothing which is directly exported to the UK.

“Sri Lanka is a good hiring market and the workforce is renowned for its high quality standards and a couple of our latest innovations in thread have in fact been invented here – innovation is very important us in order to move with the times and we always look to do things differently to our competitors,” said Managing Director of Coats Thread Exports, Giles Watkins.

This statement was reaffirmed by the Country Manager of Quantum Clothing Lanka, Yohan Lawrence who explained that while the group also has factories in India and Cambodia which have lower production costs in comparison to Sri Lanka, labour in Sri Lanka is far more skilled which is a priority when supplying upmarket clothing brands.

The High Commissioner was warmly welcomed by the staff at both factories and was given a walkthrough of the production lines and processes within the two operations at Horana.